Story+1988-06-22+Birmingham,+England

‘‘How you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)...alright, now, this is more like it, this weather here....it’s nice.....like back home when it gets around the middle of the summer, we get a lot of, gets real sticky, real hot and humid, you know....but right this time of spring, the air stays real clear....you get out, you take your, take a walk, I like to take a walk in the park and see if any of my old friends are still around.....oh, I can hear the birds singing now (cheers) oh yeah, they sound good (chuckles)....hey, hey, man, what you doing, alright, oh, what’ve you been doing ?....yeah (?) I ain’t talked to you in a long time, you don’t ever call me up....what do you got ?.....oh (chuckles) Clarence got a little boy now....there´s a little Big Man running around out there....he´s got little shades and he´s got a little silk suit, little saxophone and a whole bunch of little girlfriends (chuckles) his own apartment (chuckles) he looks good, that´s nice..... yeah....man, I remember.....I remember I was with you the night you met your wife.... Clarence was always falling in love every time we went on the road.....he´d come knocking at my door like in the middle of the night : ‘Bruce, Bruce, I just fell in love.... I´m gonna get married’ ‘Yeah, yeah’....then he met this girl....she came walking in the room at this little party we was at....and Clarence runs into the bathroom right away, you know....and I follow him and he´s standing in front of the mirror, you know, checking himself out, fixing his hair....splashing on like his patchuli oil and stuff so (chuckles)...you were (chuckles) and then, then he comes out and he kind of sidles up to her in the bar....and he starts talking all this stuff.....he has on what I, I call it his ‘love-face’.....that means he’s being a whole lot nicer than he really is, you see (chuckles) but it worked, worked good, ooh yeah, you know....remember what it´s like the first time you see somebody you dig like that ?....what it feels like when they come walking in the room ?....hey, Richie, sing it, guy, come on, man.....straight out of New Jersey, ladies and gentlemen....man, we used to stay out all night, you know, drinking, used to jam all night long, gotta do that again.....wanna do it tonight ?....you ready tonight ? you ready to stay out tonight ? (cheers)....alright, let’s do it and bring your saxophone, alright, see you later....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘All That Heaven Will Allow’**

‘‘How you doing out there, you alright ? (cheers)....good.....oh, there was.....there was this guy and this girl, they met in this little shot-and-beer bar....down along the coast.... in this little beach town.....and he was, uh, he was kind of young, I guess he was in his early 20’s....and uh, he painted houses in the day....took all his money and put it....you know, went out and had a good time or he’d put it into his car....and she was a little bit older....I guess she was looking for somebody to....that’d love her....and they met in this little local club, they started going out and she liked him a lot, she was always.... she’d always be talking about him....he was one of those, uh, kind of sweet tempered guys, you know, not, not too serious.....always, uh, had some sort of stupid joke to tell ....you know, kept her, kept her kind of smiling....and they got along real good and they, they got this little....apartment about two blocks in from the beach in the wintertime....was a little garage apartment, had two or three rooms and a little, like, sun porch....and uh, I guess that was the first time he´d ever really lived with somebody and they kind of set up house and.....things were nice....and then she got pregnant.....and they were happy....he saved his money for the first time, went downtown and.....and bought her a ring, came back and surprised her with it.....and she went down and picked out a wedding dress and told her mama and her papa....and uh, I guess something happened, I guess he got scared, maybe he was a little too young but ho took off....and the problem was that she never really let him go...she kept him in her mind and she kept him in her heart and at night when she laid in bed....she’d see his face.....and remember like stupid....silly things that he´d done.....and the problem was that he wasn´t ever coming back....and so the world took those old memories and it took those old dreams and it broke her heart with ‘em every single day....because there comes a time when you gotta take the past and you gotta put it away....well, this is a song about a woman struggling to understand the value of her own independent existence....and the value of the life of her child....taking those old dreams, putting ‘em away, finding something new and beautiful now in her life.....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘Spare Parts’**

‘‘Alright, where was I ?....I remember when I was a little baby crawling across the floor heading for a tv-set, my mom’d say ‘Now, don´t touch that thing’....now, I can remember going into a little department store, going into the toy department, saleslady’d come running up....’Son, no, no, you can look but don´t touch that thing now’....and then I remember going out on my....date with, uh, with my girlfriend in high school and she´d look at me late at night, we’d be sitting in the car and she’d say ‘Now, don´t touch that thing.....you can look’....and then she´d look at me and say ‘What is that thing ?....you better put that thing away now....you´re gonna hurt somebody with that thing.’....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘You Can Look’**

´´Is there anybody alive out there tonight ? (cheers)....is there anybody that can feel the living, breathing spirit down in their souls tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good....because tonight....I’m a man here with a mission....and what I wanna know is.....do we have any rough, tough Birmingham men out there tonight ? (cheers)....do we have any badass, macho English men out there tonight ? (cheers)....oh yeah.....well, I’ve seen men that would swim rivers, that would climb mountains, that would wrestle with the beasts of the jungle....but there was one thing that scared ‘em to death.....there was one thing that when they got next to it, they ran home like little babies to their mommies .... you wanna know what that one thing was....do you wanna know what that one thing was ?....I’m talking about L....U...V, I’m talking about love.....love scared ‘em to death ....when they got next to love, they started shaking and they started quaking....and they ran on home.....back to their loneliness....back to their loneliness.....and do we have any heroic English ladies out there tonight ? (cheers)....I mean do we have any brave, courageous, rough, tough Birmingham women out there tonight ? (cheers)....because, girls, I’m talking to you too.... I’ve known women, women that would date the horn section in this band.....I’ve known women that would jump from an airplane but when they got next to love, they ran home .....because they got scared.....and frightened..... now, I’m not down here tonight just pointing my finger at you....I´m down here tonight because I´ve got a confession I´ve got to make and what I wanna say is.....I have sinned !....that´s right.....and I don´t need no Jimmy Swaggert to forgive me.....he can kiss my ass, baby....I’m down here tonight to say.....that I´m a brave man.....what I´ve got to testify to is....that I’m a coward when it comes to love......”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘I’m a Coward’**

‘‘Oh, this is a song I wrote about 15 years ago now....was, uh, I was 24 years old....I was living in this little house a block or so in from the beach in New Jersey....and uh ....first time we ever came to England....it was 1975.....we played the Hammersmith Odeon....oh, we were scared, you know, we’d never been, uh, never been out of the States....and I sang this song that night.....and since then I guess it’s kind of grown old and grown up with me and I’ve sang it about every night I’ve been on any stage since ....and it’s funny ‘cause when I wrote it, it surprises me how much I knew about my life when I was that young ‘cause the questions that I asked myself in this song, I´ve been chasing down the answers to ever since.....and I put this guy and this girl and I put ‘em in this car and they kind of, they just went out onto the highway with the idea of running and never ever coming back.....searching for a little, a little freedom someplace.....but as I got older I realised that that individual freedom without a connection to something, to friends or family or some sort of a community ends up feeling pretty empty and meaningless....and I put all these people in all these cars and I got in with ‘em and as I grew older I realised that I was gonna have to figure out someplace for ‘em all to go....so down the road we went.....and uh, I guess those people were all searching for something that they might call ‘home’ and I realised that that home isn´t over the next hill or up the highway or where you grew up but it´s buried deep inside of all of us someplace waiting to be set free by somebody’s love.... and guts (chuckles)....so I’d like to do this for you tonight wishing you all that you all may find whatever it is you’re searching for....good luck....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘Born to Run’**

‘‘Now, this is the part of the show where, uh.....I look out into the crowd, you see..... and I´m trying to see if anybody looks like their ass is dragging, if they´re tired or not out there....you guys look a little on the tired side to me.....yeah.....don´t they, don’t they, band, they look a little on the tired side.....I don´t think they can take it out here ....I don’t think so.....are you sure ?....are you sure ?.....(?).....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘Sweet Soul Music’**

‘‘Well, I’m here tonight, I’ve come thousands and thousands of miles across the ocean ....because I’m a man with a job to do.....I’m here because I want to let you know (?) is there anybody out there that needs a little love, is there anybody out there that needs a little affection, is there anybody out there that needs a little respect, is there anybody out there that needs a little personal attention ?....well, you came to the right place..... because I came all the way from the United States....to the great shores of England and Birmingham to let you know that my motto is ‘Have Love Will Travel’.....”
 * 22.06.88 Birmingham, England, intro to ‘Have Love Will Travel’**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//